New Caledonia, Tonga, Fijii, New Caladonia

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Our next stop after French Polynesia was the Kingdom of Tonga. From there we we suppose to travel to Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, unfortunately the Cook Islands were being hammered by a hurricane, so the Captain wisely decided to take a long detour and sail directly to Vavau Tonga. I did discover one thing in the 31/2 days at sea and that is that Mare has a stronger stomach than I do. If one wishes to visit an island in the South Pacific that is still under developed with regard to the tourist trade, I would recommend Tonga. Another day at sea and then we arrived at Savusavu Fijii. The next day we were in Savu Fijii. New Caladonia was a surprise. It is the third largest producer of nickel and obviously a good portion of the revenue remains in the country since Nomea is a thoughly modern city.

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Photos

The Paul Gaugain
In Bora Bora we took a helicopter ride. This is a shot of our 300 passenger ship.

New Caladonia
New Caladonia is the world's third largest producer of nickel. As one approches the harbour you can see a number of mining roads.

New Caladonia
A number of the small islands are covered in these straight short branch pine trees.

New Caladonia
We took a boat out to an island, snorkled and went out on a boat a saw innumerable fish including sharks.

New Caladonia
This is the lighthouse on the island we visted with all 240 steps to the top.

New Caladonia
Before we went snorkling we were told about these water snakes. They swim near the shore looking for samll prey and then come on land.

Tonga
Want to buy a coconut?

Puff Fish, Taha
The fish is really quite small but when it feels threatened it will blow itself up as in the picture.

Savusavu Fijiii
Savusavu was a mix of all nationalities, with colourful painted buildings.

Savusavu Fijii
OOne of the nice things is that a person can walk thourgh the markets and not be hasseled. All of the stalls tended to sell one produce.